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: Capital Defense Weekly

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By Karl R. Keys, Esq.

The weekly email edition is now available: This issue is dominated by the Supreme Court’s holding in Medellin v. Texas. In an opinion that will have Constitutional scholars buzzing for years to come, the Court in Medellin held that neither the World Court?s judgment in the Avena litigation (holding Vienna Convention claims must be honored by the courts of signatory nations) nor the President?s Memorandum directing Texas to provide a forum for Avena related claims constitute directly enforceable federal law that pre-empts state limitations on the filing of successive habeas petitions. The Vienna Convention may constitute an international commitment, but it and similar treaties are not binding against the states (such as Texas) unless enabling statutes are passed or the treaty itself conveys an intention that it be?self-executing? and is ratified on that basis...continue to full post

Full post as published by Capital Defense Weekly on March 31, 2008 (boomark / email).